Civil Compound- Liberia 2012

This is Civil Compound, basically it is out in the bush. To get here this year was an adventure in itself, a fun adventure!! Since it was “drizzling”, we were walking through puddles as high as our thighs, and when trekking through the bush I had my camera put in a plastic bag in my pack for safety. However, I do have some pretty amazing pictures still to share.

I have to start the tale of our adventures to Civil Compound back in the heart of Serve the Children Schools in Sinkor, because I had some fun with the kids as we were sitting in the van waiting to go. This is the nature of Africa, you hurry up and wait. 🙂 Anyway, we were sitting in the car at Sinkor and I started snapping the kids!! They were loving it. Here are a few pictures of the kids mimicking the faces I would make 🙂

This is me saying “Show me your teeth!!”

This one is more saying “Do this!” As I puff out my cheeks with air.

“Do this!” *sticks out my tongue*

Oh and here is a picture of my Hammy 🙂

Alright! Then finally we headed on the way to Civil Compound! We put about 13 people into the van by the time we had gotten there 🙂 We were riding Liberian style!!

Anytime I am drive around Liberia and get to look at the countryside I am always in awe of how gorgeous it is. I find Seattle simply wonderful on its sunny days and couldn’t be happier to live here on those days because I realize I live in one of the most gorgeous places in the world. But when I am driving around Liberia it greatly competes with Seattle’s gorgeousness. My only regret is that the camera NEVER does Liberia’s countryside justice. You can’t see the depth of the landscape or the intensity of the green bush. But never mind that, I will still share what you can see 🙂 Just a couple of pictures now, then a few from when we were leaving Civil Compound.

Alright, here is the “puddles” we had to walk through. This first one you see Harris in is one that we didn’t have to walk through, but he did. It was something we always made fun of….. you see Harris is the “go-to-guy”. We would hear his name being called everyday… “HARRIS! HARRIS!” Everyone wanted Harris to do something, and that didn’t change when we drove out to Civil Compound. The principal and Gertrude simply said, “Harris, walk through that and see how deep it is” and he did. As he was walking through they would then holler at him, “HARRIS! WALK THAT WAY!” and point over to the left or right side because they wanted to see how deep it was all over…. with Harris being their measuring stick.

Here is the infamous “puddle”.

Harris is starting his trek across the “puddle”.

Harris at the end of the “puddle”. During his walk the water came up just below his butt and it was determined that we couldn’t take this way to Civil Compound. We had to find a different route and even then we were going to have to walk through some “puddles”, but not this one.

Zak and the rest of the team up there by the van.

Alright, so we drove to a small village, a kind man told us to park our van by his home and he would keep it safe (and he did). Then we started our walk to Civil Compound through puddles, over a monkey bridge, and through more puddles, when finally a car came out from Civil Compound to pick us up and carry us the rest of the way. Even then, the car driver went through some sketch “puddles” and we didn’t think we would make it! On our way back the water came over the hood of the car and we were seriously surprised when the car kept running. Zak told Julie and I that we were egging the driver on to keep going, when in all honesty Julie and I kept telling him we could walk!!!

When we had to walk through these “puddles” the water came up to just about the thigh in areas… however, some of the Liberians kept finding ways around “puddles” while Harris and our driver just walked through them. I got tired of slipping around in mud so I moved to walking through the “puddles”. I had my amazing Vibram Five Finger Shoes on too 🙂 Here is a pitch guys, these shoes were AMAZING for this trip and I would suggest to anyone getting a pair of those babies to take on trips.

At first Harris was against me getting my shoes wet, but I let him know they were made for water and fun activities. So he let me while everyone else walked around. We go to one intense “puddle” and … well…. we had two little princesses with us and they got carried over the water by our strong guide Harris (I’m teasing them). Julie and Jumah were carried and I just kept laughing! This is also about the time Julie got her loving nickname “Princess Density”. However, at the end of this “puddle” there was a leech flopping around!! GROSS!

Alright, car picks us up and we finally get there!!!

Here are pics of some of the kids 🙂 I have pictures of him from last year, and honestly I think this year he looks less healthy 🙁

Isn’t this just a CUTE/ADORABLE amazing smile????

Ok, after the graduation we hopped back in the car, drove through some “puddles” and then walked the rest of the way back to the village!! We sat on the porch of the man’s house and had lunch. We shared our lunch with him and his family. I put some of the spaghetti onto a plate (we were limited on plates since we didn’t know we would feed a few more people than usual) and gave it to the man’s two daughters. They looked like they were early teens/pre-teens. The looked of surprise they gave me was priceless. They didn’t expect me to give them some of the food I suppose. They ate it and I think they enjoyed it. Martha cooked it for us before we left, so I will assume the girls enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures of the village and Julie chasing the kids around… oh and she made a girl cry!!! Remember, this is in the bush, this child has most likely never seen a white person… we be scary creatures!!!

For a while it was the village over there and us over on the other side, just staring intently at one another.

Harris went over there to buy coal to take over to 15 Gate on our way home, and the boy who brought it over was named John (didn’t know this til later when we were playing with him). When John walked away I whistled at him. He turned around really fast and looked at me… I just looked off into space and pointed to Julie to signal it was her.. BAHAHAHAHAHA! John just smiled a huge shyish smile, kept trying to walk, but would look back every once in a while. I would just continue to point at Julie… John was smarter than that though, he knew it was me.

Here is John.

Julie and I ventured over and scared children. The little girl in pink is named Mary.

This was Julie running back after she chased a little boy over to the huts! It was HILARIOUS! The whole village seemed to come out and see what happened. After this Julie continued to chase kids around, they chased her after I got John to tell them to, and then her and Jumah played hopscotch with them as I documented with pictures 🙂

We then drove to 15 Gate and here are some of the photos from the drive 🙂 Julie and I sat in the passenger seat on the drive there.. I wanted to snap pictures and that was the best seat to do so, but with so many people in the car both of us needed to sit up there. Also, I sat up in the passenger seat by myself from 15 Gate to Sinkor and that was super awkward.

I was so happy to get this next picture!!!

Here is from 15 Gate to Sinkor. I will post another blog post for that little adventure at 15Gate, it will be short but and simple. This blog post is REALLY long already, so I don’t want to make it longer 🙂 So here are some pictures and then I will end!

BUSH MEAT!

Ok, that’s all for now. Remember, tell me what you would like to see or hear about 🙂 I will gladly tell you and show you if I can!!!